


Hold My Hand

by robinasnyder



Series: All the President's Children [2]
Category: Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens (2015)
Genre: Alternate Universe - High School, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, F/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-02-19
Updated: 2016-05-13
Packaged: 2018-05-21 15:11:47
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 8,349
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6056262
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/robinasnyder/pseuds/robinasnyder
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Finn is a legacy student at Empire School, the school that houses the children of Senators, DCs Elite, and most importantly, the daughter of former President Leia Organa, Rey Organa-Solo. Finn should be cool about it. He should be able to keep his feelings under control. After all, he's not exactly popular. But so what? He can just enjoy his crush on his own. </p><p>At least he thinks so until Rey starts to become his closest friend. Then he doesn't know what to do.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> This is a sequel to an ongoing Kylux AU. This is set about eight years after the events of "High School Never Ends". You don't have to actually read HSNE to read this. The only thing you need to know at the moment is the following: Leia was the President of the United States for 8 years, but that ended by the time Rey was in Junior High. Anakin Skywalker is an infamous domestic terrorist serving life in prison for various bombings that killed many people.

Finn Windu was a legacy of Empire School. His grandfather had been a professor at the school even, before he was killed in one of Anakin Skywalker’s attacks. Which probably made his absolutely outrageous crush on Anakin Skywalker’s granddaughter all the more impossible. But Finn would never be able to help how he felt. 

Not that he exactly wanted to. Not when it came to Rey Organa-Skywalker, 10th grade Senator for the student council and likely Student Body President for the next two years. Not that Empire normally had the School President be the same from year to year, but Rey was spunky that way. Also, Finn was almost certain she’d be the President of the United States one day. It was like, written in the stars, and in the way she shined through any conflict until people practically bowed to her because why wouldn’t they want to? 

But maybe Finn was being too poetic. He did that sometimes. 

Finn Windu was a legacy. His Grandfather had been a Senator himself, a soldier, a protester during Civil Rights. His parents, when they were alive, had been brilliant lawyers. His mother especially. She was Mace Windu’s daughter, the woman who fought the good fight for women in the ACLU. His father had been well on his way to becoming a district attorney. 

At least that was what Finn knew from the obituary.

In reality, Finn didn’t have much connection to his family. He’d sort of bounced around between foster families until he had gotten a family court judge to say he was old enough to take care of himself. Now he lived in his grandfather’s old apartment building, tried not to bother the tenants or the landlord, and got himself to school every morning. 

Was it depressing to come home to a big empty apartment, cook himself dinner, do homework and put himself to bed? Absolutely. Was he well aware that he shouldn’t even have to be responsible for himself yet? That all of his peers were out goofing off? And while he didn’t exactly have to work, that he still felt way too old to not even be 17 yet? Of course he was. 

So that was why he didn’t try to control his crush on Rey. It felt like something a 16 year old would have. 

So what if Finn kept himself busy so he didn’t have to be home alone? JROTC was a good thing to be involved in. And the rifle team. And debate team was just fun. So was chess club. And really, president of the archery team hardly counted since he’d basically made the team himself. At least he wasn’t still trying to fit in Model UN. 

That was sad though, since Rey dominated Model UN as well as Mock Trial. 

Finn sighed for the thousandth time at the thought. He didn’t need the thought. He needed to line up his shot. It was a long practice day. He’d had to barter for time for the Archery Club around rifle practice, because they used the same fields. Also, because all four of Archery Club’s members were also on the rifle team for the JROTC. 

So that meant that while Archery Club needed to be able to practice with as much light as possible that Finn and the rest of his fire team had to stay late to do rifle practice and then clean up afterwards. Finn knew why he didn’t mind working until the sun went down. He just didn’t know about the others. 

It was more polite not to ask. 

They offered him the same courtesy, although basically everyone knew Finn’s sob story. He hadn’t gone to Empire until 9th grade. For a school where most students began going for Preschool until they went to college, this made Finn quite the oddity. Cliques were basically formed before he even got there. Through word of mouth and the fact that the school had an actual wing named after his grandfather, everyone knew about him. It pissed Finn off, but he never showed it. Mostly because he refused to think about it. 

He lined up his last shot and fired. 

“Good shot,” Slip said quietly at his right. 

“Yeah, great, can we get going? I don’t want to be here all night,” Nines said. 

“Just start cleaning up your own gear and stop ragging on the Captain,” Zeroes said. 

“Go,” Finn said in his commanding voice, waving his hand to send them away. He took his rifle to the table and began to disassemble and clean it. 

Keep your equipment cleaned and well-tended and it would save your life. That was what Phasma told him. He smiled at the thought of making her proud. 

His smile waned pretty quickly, since he wasn’t certain that he actually wanted to follow her footsteps and go to West Point. He knew he’d do well there, he just wasn’t certain that he actually wanted to. 

But her praise was always nice. He focused on that instead. 

He listened to his fire team chatter around him as they cleaned their weapons. He already knew that he’d be cleaning Slip’s gun as well. No matter how many times the rest of them showed him what to do, Slip never could quite get it. It had just become easy to clean it after Slip did, rather than getting in trouble when they most needed it, like at competition. 

“Done,” Nines announced. He pulled his cap off and ran his hand through his red, red hair. “Can I go?” 

“Me too?” Slip asked. Finn tried not to wince. He knew Slip had not put enough time into the rifle cleaning as it would really take. 

Finn looked up over at his team. Slip with his watery hazel eyes and skin so white that the rest of them wondered how he could possibly be that pale and still go outside. Nines with his fire hair and icon like blue eyes. And Zeroes, with that odd scar on his face and skin just as brown as Finn’s own. 

Zeroes was giving Finn one of those serious looks that sat so well on his serious brow. He knew that Finn was going to compensate for Slip, probably unlike Slip. He also cared that Finn was working too hard, unlike Nines who couldn’t give a damn. But Zeroes was still going to walk out that door without a word once Finn told him to. 

“Dismissed,” Finn said. He followed that with a smile. “I got the rest. Go ahead.” They had gone late. The sun had already set and the field lights come on. Finn was starving and he knew the others had to be as well, especially because they didn’t eat as well as Finn did. He’d seen the junk food they picked at lunch rather than the properly balanced lunches Finn made for himself.

“See you tomorrow,” Slip said quietly and slipped out, Nines hot on his heels. Zeroes cast one more glance at Finn and followed the other two out. 

Finn sighed and continued his cleaning. Maybe he’d clean Nines and Zeroes rifles as well. He could be lazy and grab McDonald’s on the way home. 

It gave him time to think about his schedule for the next week. 

Though really as he worked he actually thought about his fire time. Finn had been promoted over the three of them, even though all three of them started JROTC at the same time. Finn had even been promoted over some people who’d been in the ROTC since Junior High. 

It didn’t exactly make him popular. 

Finn wasn’t popular at all. Hell, he didn’t even have friends. Not real friends. If someone asked him he’d say that his fire team were his friends. But he knew in his heart that they were only school friends. They all did JROTC and rifle team and were in Archery Club. But they didn’t really like him. 

Maybe it was that he’d been promoted over them. Maybe it was that he was always in the top three in the class. Maybe it was that Slip and Nines came from weird white families that named their sons Slip and Nines (Zeroes was, thankfully, just a nickname). You could never tell what was going on with a white family that picked names like those and then turned up their noses because Finn’s grandfather had legally changed his name. Of course that didn’t explain Zeroes. 

Finn knew that Zeroes and Nines always made fun of Slip and even picked on him because he’d been put in their unit and he couldn’t really keep up. Slip was a military legacy, like Finn. He was only in JROTC to appease his family, and he wasn’t good at it. A lot of the other cadets picked on Slip for it. 

But even though Finn has always been kind and helpful to Slip, and even tried to be his friend, they just weren’t friends. Finn never knew anything that happened to his fire team until everyone else knew. He hadn’t even been told when Nines and Zeroes began dating. They’d actually told Slip, even though Slip could barely keep a secret. But Finn had to find out when he accidentally walked in on them making out in the locker room. 

Finn sighed at that thought. He finished with his rifle and then moved onto Slip’s. Just as messy as he knew it would be. He started to clean it. At this point he knew it just as well as his own. It wasn’t too hard to clean. Then he moved onto Nines’. 

Nines was a very competent soldier, in Finn’s mind. He would be good when he got to Annapolis, even though that was a few years away. Maybe school would hammer out those last rough edges. Zeroes too, if he followed his Nines like Finn suspected he would. 

Nines parents probably didn’t like him dating Zeroes, if they even knew at all. But Zeroes was so protective of Nines. Finn always thought it was sweet. They were quiet about their dating, but Finn could still see the care they offered each other. 

It made him feel even more lonely than normal. Because he knew he craved that. He craved the love he saw shared between his parents in their wedding pictures and in any of the videos he had of them. He craved having someone who cared about him like that. As it was, it felt like he could drop off the face of the earth and his absence wouldn’t so much as inconvenience anybody. 

Finn swallowed hard. He made himself shove that thought aside. It was scary sometimes, thinking things like that. He didn’t want to die, but sometimes something in him whispered how much easier and less lonely it would be. He always shoved those thoughts away, and he never mentioned them to anyone. He didn’t want to be assigned another guardian. Perhaps when he turned eighteen he could get a therapist. 

“Why can’t I be normal?” he asked the empty room. 

He finished off cleaning the rifles. He double checked that there was no ammo in them, and put them all away in the correct locker. He tidied up the room so that none of the cleaning staff would have a hard time cleaning the room in the morning. He turned off the field lights and then headed back in toward the school proper. 

He couldn’t tell if it was trust or negligence on the part of his teacher, but Finn had been gifted a key to the rifle room, the range field, the school and one to his teacher’s room. Finn had to drop off the end of day check sheet and some performance reports. He knew the reports were not an act of trust but of laziness on his teacher’s part. 

Finn didn’t really mind. It was good practice for the future. And while he was busy, he liked to fill all his extra hours of the day. Finn was so on top of his homework that staying extra late at the school was a blessing. 

He walked with purpose to his teacher’s office. He opened the door and went and dropped the papers in a neat stack on his desk. Then he turned and left the room, locking up after himself.

It was late, but he could still hear the basketball team practicing. The noise from the gyms reverberated down the empty halls. The women’s team was had won nationals the previous season. This team looked every bit as good as the previous year’s. Still, Finn would bet anything it was the Men’s team who had been allowed to stay so long. And not the women’s team. 

Empire could be oddly sexist, even when their women’s teams were much more likely to win championships than their men’s teams. 

Finn decided to take the long way out to his car. It would mean a few more moments of being able to hear the noise from the gym. He cut down one of the stairs cases and then back up through a longer hall way, his boots the only noise in the hall ways. 

He turned left, deciding to maybe pass by his locker. That was until he heard giggling. Then he turned and headed toward the noise. 

It occurred to him too late that maybe it was some kind of amorous encounter. It turned out that it wasn’t, but a couple of girls from the basketball team tossing things into their lockers. Finn froze, realizing that Rey was there too. 

He stood at the end of the hall way, watching Rey laughing with her friend, her damp hair pulled back into her three practice buns that she became so known for during her games. She was in gym clothes, but they weren’t the basketball uniform and they looked clean and dry. And she was laughing. Finn tried not to blush. 

Rey’s two friends left her alone, heading out the door, laughing all the way. 

“Traitors!” she shouted after them, but she was laughing too. She didn’t seem worried that she was left alone, though. She simply continued to shove things into her bottom locker that she was kneeling in front of. 

That was when Finn realized that he was all alone in the hall way with her, and that he was just standing there and it would be super creepy if she looked up and saw him just standing there. He also knew that his boots did make some level of noise and that she would probably hear him and wonder why the noise started all of a sudden. He also couldn’t just back up because of it. 

He swallowed and started taking long strides down the hall and just hoped that Rey didn’t feel threatened by a guy wandering the halls when there really shouldn’t be anyone around. She did jerk when she saw the noise. She looked up at him and there was a flash of wariness in her eyes before she locked eyes with him. In that one second he couldn’t help but feel angry at himself and also deeply disappointed. 

But then her anxiousness faded into a bright smile and Finn felt the pain in his chest ease into something every bit as warm and lovely as Rey’s smile. 

“Hey, Finn, what are you doing here?” she asked before she turned back to her locker. 

Any other bit of panic that had been coursing through him drained right out of his body. You didn’t take your eyes off someone that made you nervous or afraid of. She trusted him enough to focus on something else. 

And she remembered his name, which officially made that day the best day ever! 

“Rifle team practice,” Finn said. 

“I thought that finished ages ago,” Rey said, her head still in her locker. 

Finn made it the rest of the way down the hall. Maybe he should have kept going. But he didn’t want to just go home. He didn’t want to pass up a few extra moments he could be in her presence. It was the first time all day he’d actually felt normal. 

“Archery Club takes up the normal Rifle Team time, so we have to stay later to do practice for that,” Finn explained. “And I have a set of keys, so I stayed a little later to do clean up.” 

“That doesn’t sound like a lot of fun,” she said. 

“What are you doing?” Finn asked, trying to peer around her head to see what in the world she was so engrossed in. 

“Um,” she started. She moved her locker door so he could see. She was apparently changing theme of her locker (another normal High School thing that Finn wanted to try, but the disorder of it made him too nervous). She was taking down pictures of military airplanes and replacing it with pictures of tiny orange kittens. 

“Jesus, that’s adorable,” Finn said, dropping down on his knees next to her. 

“Yeah, Hux’s cat had kittens… and well… I don’t think my dad would be cool with me bringing home a kitten. But it’s like the cutest thing ever and I couldn’t leave it behind,” Rey said. 

“Which one is the one you want?” he asked, looking at her stack of pictures. 

“This one,” she said, handing him a picture of a chubby round orange puff ball with a black spot over one eye and black ears. 

“I don’t think I’ve ever seen a cat like this,” Finn said, accepting the picture. “Does she gave a name?” 

“He does, of sorts,” she said. “See, the kittens are from Hux’s cat Millicent, and my brother’s cat Ani. Millie is ginger like Hux, and Ani is very black. Anyway, my brother’s a dipshit and he names all the cats ‘Baby’, because Hux always tells him not to get attached. And Hux assigns them numbers so he doesn’t get confused. So this is BB-8, and he’s adorable.” 

“He looks like it,” Finn said. “Why not get then neutered if they don’t want kittens?” 

“They say it’s inhumane,” Rey said. She went back to taking down the plane pictures and piling them in a neat little stack.

Finn shook his head. “Your brother and his boyfriend are such a stereotype.” 

“I know,” Rey groaned. “All they need is a couple of dogs. They’ve even got their pictures taken at the last DC Pride with Uncle Luke and Uncle Wedge.” 

“Oh yeah, I remember that picture,” Finn said. It pissed the conservatives right off to have one of the highest officers in the United States Army being out with his husband, nephew, nephew’s boyfriend and a rainbow flag.

Rey rolled her eyes. “Everyone remembers that picture. You remember Poe?” she asked. 

“Of course I do,” Finn said. He felt his stomach flip. Poe had been an Assistant Freshman Integration Councilor, meaning he was who the freshman came to with problems. He’d been the one to help Finn get the Archery Club going when Finn came to him asking for help. Poe had gotten a better job offer, which Finn couldn’t fault him for, but Finn missed the man. He was kind of cool. He’d been welcoming when it seemed like a lot of teacher and students hadn’t. 

“Yeah, well, he has that photo as the header on his Facebook page,” she said. 

“Really?” Finn asked. “You’re friends with him on Facebook?” 

“Yeah,” she said. “You can look him up.” 

“Not really,” Finn said. “I don’t have one.” 

“For real?” she asked. 

“I find the concept depressing,” Finn admitted. Facebook connected you with family and old friends. Having one would only remind him of what he didn’t have. 

“Yeah,” she said. “It can be a huge time sink. And I have to be so ridiculously careful or someone will get hold of something and then the Conservatives lose their mind.” 

“I’m pretty certain that “lost minds” in their natural state,” Finn cut in. 

Rey stopped what she was doing completely and turned to look at him. Finn had one panicked moment where his heart rocketed up into his chest and he wondered if maybe he’d said something offensive. But then she snorted. And that snort turned into a giggle, and that giggle turned into an absolute cackle. At that point Finn felt that he was probably safe. 

“You’re pretty funny,” Rey said when she’d mostly stopped laughing. 

“What, did you think I would be tedious?” Finn asked, grinning. Yes, funny was good thing to be. 

“No, you just didn’t, like, talk to anyone too much Model UN,” she said. 

Finn felt his face start to heat up. He looked down at the kitten picture he was still holding. “I didn’t realize you paid attention to me like that.” 

“Well, I mean, your arguments were always like… the best basically. I really loved being matched against you cause it was exciting. And now that you dropped out… man I don’t know,” she said. She sat back and looked at him. “How’s debate team?” 

“It’s better,” Finn said. “Less annoying white boys pretending like they’re representing something, but really just being condescending.” 

“Jesus, that sounds lovely,” Rey said. “I mean I feel like I shouldn’t just drop, like it’s a defeat, but with Mock Trial I do all that that work, and Basketball, and Model UN is so boring now.” 

“Then quit and join debate. It’s so much more fun. And then you’ll be able to fight against me again.” He couldn’t help the hope in his voice. He really, really wanted to see more of her. They had a couple of the same classes, but they didn’t do group projects in Algebra II, and they tended to do boys vs girls in French. 

“I think I might,” Rey said. Then she smiled wider. “Yes, I’m going to do that.” She sounded so definite about it. That made Finn’s stomach feel warm. 

“Awesome,” Finn said, his own smile just getting broader. 

“Thank you, Finn. I’ve been considering it for a while, but I didn’t want to seem like a coward,” she said. 

“It’s not cowardly to leave some place that isn’t good for you,” Finn assured her. 

Rey’s smile became a little softer. “You’re right… thanks, Finn. I mean it,” she said. 

She turned back to locker and shut it. She gathered up the rest of her plane pictures and stuffed them into the bag. She slowly pushed herself off the ground. Finn scrambled to stand up, not wanting to be the weirdo still sitting on the cold tile floor.

“No problem,” Finn said, trying to continue conversation. “So I’ll email the teacher and tell him you’re coming to practice tomorrow, okay?” 

“You don’t have to.” 

“Yeah, but I gotta email him anyway, so I don’t see why I shouldn’t tell him. He can sort it out with the MUN prof.” 

“True,” she said. “He is kind of awful. There’s no reason for me to have to do that myself.” 

“Exactly,” Finn said. 

“Yeah… well, I better head out. My guard is going to come in and get me if I don’t come out soon,” Rey said. “I’ll see you tomorrow, Finn!” she declared and then quickly headed down the hall the way Finn had come. 

Finn had a moment where he considered saying that he was going that way too and follow after her. But he knew that would see creepy. It would be like he was either following her now or he had been following before. 

He looked down and realized he still had her kitten picture in his hand. He could follow her. He pretty quickly decided against that course of action. He’d return to it to her in the morning. As much as he wanted to spend more time with her, no sane mane would follow a girl just to give her back a kitten picture. At least Finn assumed so. 

He let out a sigh and headed down the hallway, out toward student parking. 

Yes, he still didn’t want to go back to his lonely apartment. But he had a reason to rush home now. He got to send an email that would make the next day awesome. If he got home and got his homework done early then he could go to bed early and wake up to an awesome day so much faster! 

That thought put a real pep in his step as he began to jog out to his car. He couldn’t remember the last time he’d felt his excited. 

“Tomorrow’s going to be awesome,” he said to his car as he opened the door and hopped inside. In under a minute he had the car started. In under three he was out of the parking lot.


	2. Chapter 2

Finn had to get up early the next day for early practice for JROTC. Well, he didn’t have to, but there was a voluntary extra physical practice. Well, it was only voluntary if you weren’t on punishment. The only person Finn ever saw there as consistently as Finn was Slip. Slip always looked miserable, and Finn felt bad for him, but he liked taking the extra assignments. It got him out of his lonely apartment anyway. 

As Finn headed out the door he once again considered that he should decorate his apartment. There was furniture, but it was furniture that had been in his Grandfather’s apartment to begin with, and Finn took down every picture or poster and repainted the walls to be a steady grey. His apartment was as neat and tidy as his locker. Finn didn’t consider that a good thing. He knew why he liked things neat. He hadn’t always had the best foster parents, and one of them insisted on neatness to the point of Finn keeping his spaces clinically neat. It felt wrong, but the thought of changing gave Finn anxiety. 

He put the thoughts of change from his mind and instead focused on the email he’d gotten from Mr Ackbar, the Debate Team teacher. He was very excited about Rey joining debate and he promised that he’d talk to Mr Snoke, who was the MUN teacher. Finn was glad not to have to talk to Mr Snoke, and that Rey didn’t have to do it either. He was just a little too creepy. 

Finn rushed out of the house and drove to school. He parked in his usual spot, although there were even less people in the parking lot than normal, and it was still dark out when he arrived. He walked quickly to the gym and started his normal reps. He had to force himself to not go faster than normal or to cut part of his work-out routine. He’d gotten their early for a reason. He was able to leave the gym early and get a shower early. He took extra-long with the shower, since he was going to see Rey and he wanted to smell fresh and clean. 

It was a normal school uniform day, though he almost wished it was a dress out day for JROTC. Then he would have felt more comfortable. His JROTC uniform felt like armor. While the talk with Rey had gone really well the day before, there was no indicator that he wouldn’t royally screw it up now that it was a new day. 

Finn strode to Rey’s locker. When he arrived he realized that he’d made a mistake. He’d been far too purposeful in the way he walked. If anyone had been watching they would have known that he was heading to that particular spot. And yes, everyone in the hallway seemed to be mainly focused on their own things, but someone could have been watching. 

Was it really weird for him to be waiting outside Rey’s locker? Was it too obvious? Did he look like a creepy stalker? 

“Hey, Finn!” Rey said. Her voice cut right there his fears and left him feeling like he could breath. 

Finn turned and gave her a smile. “Hello, Rey,” he said. She too was in her uniform. Her hair was damp and had begun to wave and curl. She hadn’t even bothered with so much as a headband. And of course she bothered to have her uniforms tailored to fit. Poe had suggested that to him when he’d been new. It was one of those tricks to make the uniform look better without specifically breaking the rules. 

“What brings you down here?” she asked. She used the back of her hand to lightly smack his arm, a sign she wanted him to move. It just took him a moment to realize what she wanted. Then he stepped aside so she could get to her locker. “Thanks,” she added, dropping neatly into a kneel. 

“I heard back from Mr Ackbar, he said that he’d love to have you and that he’ll talk to Snoke,” Finn said. 

“Thank God,” Rey groaned. 

“Yeah,” Finn agreed. Mr Ackbar was a sweet older Asian man who used to serve in the military, but now wanted nothing more than to work on his car and teach English. Mr Snoke was a creepy middle aged white guy who seemed like the type who would get fired for getting to handsy with his students. Finn felt bad for the association, because he’d never seen Snoke do anything wrong. The man just gave him the creeps.

“Thanks for taking care of this for me, Finn,” Rey said, peering up at him from her locker. “I mean it.” 

“You should thank Mr Ackbar. He’s the one who’s going to actually get it done,” he said. 

“Yeah, but you’re the reason he knows to do it,” she said. “Just let me thank you.” 

Finn felt his face heat up a bit. “Yeah, okay, sorry about that.” 

“It’s fine,” she said. She ducked her head back into her locker. 

“Oh,” Finn said, remembering the picture suddenly. “You forgot your picture yesterday,” he said. He pulled his book bag off his shoulders and started digging in it until he found the three ring binder that he’d put it in. For its safety and so he wouldn’t forget he’d put the picture in the outside clear slip. 

“God, Finn, that’s so cute,” Rey said, looking up in time to see him pull the binder out. 

“Really?” Finn aske, feeling his face getting warmer. 

“Yeah,” Rey said, her face starting to light up. “You should keep it.” 

“Really?” Finn asked, turning his binder over to look at the picture. He did like it. BB-8 was really cute and fuzzy. 

“Yeah,” Rey said. She shut her locker and stood up, dusting off her skirt. “Walk me to class?” 

“Sure,” Finn said. He hastily stuffed his binder into his bag and slung the bag back over his shoulders. “Which way?” 

“It’s not far,” she said, pointing to a class room a little further down the hall. “But I want to ask you something.” 

“Of course, whatever you want,” Finn said. He put on a brave smile, but internally he was trying to find a way to murder himself with his own mind for being that stupid. 

Rey laughed. “So, I hear you’re really good at the rock wall, right?” 

“Yeah,” Finn said. Climbing nonsense was part of the JROTC program and he was good at it. He just didn’t care for it all that much. 

“Yeah, see I want to go to this rock climbing center, and I was already to go. I was going to go with Hux, but something came up and he can’t make it. I just don’t want to go by myself and all of my friends wussed out. Will you come with me?” 

“Sure, when, where and what time?” Finn asked. 

“Friday right after school,” she said. “You can leave your car here and we can get it on our way back.” 

“I could drive down,” Finn said. 

“Yeah, but I still was a Secret Service detail, and I don’t think they’ll let me ride with you, so you should rid with me instead,” she said with a smile. 

“Oh, yeah, I guess that makes sense,” he said. “So, Friday, then.” 

“Yeah, let me get your number and I’ll send you the information,” she said. She pulled her phone out, and Finn quickly did the same. 

They swapped phones and plugged in their numbers. Finn just put his number in and handed the phone right back, but it took Rey a little longer. When he got it back, he noticed that she’d written her name as “Rey ~(^.^)~”. He felt almost stupid for just putting in his first and last name. 

The picture snapping noise caught his attention and he whipped his head up. “What?” 

“Eh, that’s not bad,” Rey said, looking at her phone. “But I think I can do better. Smile for me.” 

Finn smiled, actually pleased that the smile came easy. If smiling was the only thing she wanted from him, well that was easy enough to give. 

“Perfect,” Rey said, grinning right back at him. He heard the picture click again. “Super perfect. You’re lucky I have a steady hand. If it was my brother you’d have to hold that pose forever while he got a usable pic.” 

“Okay, now I need one,” he said. 

“Okay, fair’s fair,” She said. She smiled and threw up the peace sign. 

Finn rapidly snapped a few pictures before he handed her his phone. “You want to pick which one I use?” 

“Absolutely,” she said, accepting the phone. “A girl’s got to be in control of her media, after all.” 

Finn waited while she selected and set her picture. “I think they all look good,” he said, doing his best to sound off-handed. 

“Of course you do. You’re a boy,” Rey said. She handed him his phone back. “There, all done.” 

“Yeah,” Finn said. He looked at the picture she’d picked. “Damn, I take a good picture.” 

“You only take good pictures because you have a gorgeous model,” Rey said. 

“Absolutely,” Finn agreed. He put his phone back in his bag. “Otherwise my skills are subpar at best.” 

“I’m sure they’re fine,” she said. 

“They’d be better if I had more practice. But a man only has so many hours in the day,” Finn said. 

“Yeah, I guess that’s true,” Rey said. She put her phone away. “Alright, I’ll text you with the info.” 

“I’ll wait for your message. Bye, Rey,” Finn said. He waved and she waved back, which was pretty awesome. He lingered for another five seconds (he counted) before he turned away and headed for his own locker. 

He had a date with Rey! Okay, it wasn’t a romantic date, but time with her away from school meant that even if it was rock climbing that it would still be the best day he’d had all month, possibly all semester.

* * *

True to her word, Rey sent him a message with the information. It included the website and a link to the form he had to fill out. It was one of those “we understand that we may die climbing this damn thing” forms. Finn signed it, his heart squeezing as he did so. Other teens wished they didn’t have to get parental consent. Finn wished that he did. 

Of course, if he had parents they might not let him go climbing. He checked out picture of the website. Some of the inclines on the walls were insane. He was certain one of them was a 160 degree incline. Maybe he was exaggerating, but he did not want to climb that thing. 

On the other hand if Rey really wanted to do it, Finn knew that he would do it. 

“I’m screwed,” he told the computer before he just shut it. He’d go, he’d be uncomfortable and possibly bored whenever Rey wasn’t around and he’d deal. Being with Rey should be worth it. Should be.

He maintained that he was well and truly screwed for the rest of the week until Friday. 

He made certain to pack extra clothes in his bag, ones that would be good for climbing and to have his release form and his proof of emancipation in case the climbing place freaked out about him signing his own paperwork. He stuffed his homework books into his bag as well and went to meet Rey at the car pick up. 

“Finn!” Rey called from behind him. He paused so she could catch up. She jogged up next to him and grinned. 

“Hello, Rey,” Finn said. He was smiling, of course he was. She sounded happy to see him. 

“You got out here fast,” she said, sounding please. She came around him and stood at his side. He noticed her hair was up in her three knots. He decided it must be an all activity thing and not just a basketball thing. 

“I didn’t want to miss you.” In fact he’d gotten his books he had to take with him before last period so all he had to do was walk out to the pick-up line. 

“Well, you didn’t,” she said. She grabbed his hand. “Come on, I see the car,” she said. 

Finn drove himself, so he never saw Rey come in. It was a little odd to see a totally normal looking black car waiting for them. 

“I’m guessing you were thinking we’d get a limo?” she asked in a teasing voice. 

“It just seems so normal,” he said. 

“That’s the difference between my mom still being President and her being the previous President. Because she’s still such a controversial figure, and because she ran for the Senate again she’s still in the spot light. But it’s not the same. When she was the President we had a lot more guards, and the motorcade was an announcement of what our family was and that if anyone tried to touch us they’d be taken down fast. Now the point is for us to be safe, but also as anonymous as possible,” she explained as they got in the car. 

One secret service agent was behind the wheel and the other got in the front passenger’s seat. Once Finn and Rey were inside and buckled in the car pulled out of the line and headed off of the school property.

Finn nodded. “That makes sense. Is your mother doing okay in the Senate?” 

“It helps that Uncle Lando got elected as President,” Rey said, shifting her bag on her shoulders a bit. 

“You okay?” 

“Too much homework,” she said. “I swear, it’s like they think that we don’t have lives.” 

Finn snorted. “I know, right?” His load was pretty heavy. He’d started to get used to how heavy it was. “It’s better now that I own the books. When I was in public school I really couldn’t leave them at home, or bring up an electronic version on my tablet. I had to cart most of them to and from school every day. I’m surprised I don’t have back problems.” 

“Ew, that sounds unfun,” Rey said. 

“For so many reasons,” Finn said. Not that Empire School was exactly fun. The cliques alone gave Finn a headache. In public school he’d had an easier time making friends. But none of those friendships were very close, since all of them just went away now that he wasn’t in school with those guys anymore. He’d tried his first year and just resigned himself to loneliness before his second year of High School began. 

“I’m already looking forward to graduating,” Rey said. 

“Preach,” Finn said somewhat under his breath. “So, why rock climbing?” 

“I just really like it,” she said. “Phasma’s girlfriend Treena used to take me before she and Phasma moved away. I wanted to take my friends but they’re apparently all flakes.” 

“I like her,” Finn said. “Phasma, I mean. I’ve never met her girlfriend.” 

“You were here for her recruitment pitch last year, I take it,” Rey said with a smirk. 

“Yeah. She said I could do really well if I wanted to. Later she emailed me information about West Point,” he said. 

“Are you going into the military?” 

Finn shrugged. “I mean, I’m thinking about it. But I’m also thinking about going to Harvard, or even a cooking school. I don’t know what I want yet.” 

“That’s not bad. My dad’s like that a lot as well. He finally figured out that he’s happiest when he’s doing something for other people. I mean he acts like that’s not true, but it is,” she said. 

Finn relaxed a bit. “A lot of people act like me not knowing is basically the worst thing ever.”

“Yeah, well a lot of people are just stupid. What can you do about it?” Rey said dryly. Finn burst out laughing, not having expect that from Rey. She offered him a little smirk. 

“So, after this do you have any plans?” she asked. “Weekend homework,” Finn said with a shrug. 

“Then how about you come over to my place?” Rey asked. “We can play video games for a while.” 

“Oh, uh,” Finn said, not sure what do say. What did you say when a girl invited you over to her house? Yes, right? You said yes, right? “Sure, that sounds like fun,” he said and then smile. 

Rey smiled back. “Great,” she chirped. 

The rest of the trip went smoothly. The front desk didn’t even question Finn’s release form. They showed him and Rey to separate locker rooms. Finn changed into his climbing clothes and went out to meet Rey, leaving his things in the locker he was provided. 

The center provided them with helmets and gear for their first climb, but heavily suggested they buy their own if they came again. Rey looked too excited about it. Finn tried not to cringe. Climbing was fine, he just didn’t think of it as a fun activity. 

After some instruction they were set up in the safety harness and allowed to start climbing. Finn focused on pushing with his legs and trying listen to the instructor on the ground. He was glad this was only a beginner wall. Rey had looked a little miffed, but Finn was fine with that. 

They had climbing shoes as part of their gym uniform for school. It was Empire’s policy to try and help students find the activity they enjoyed. Finn had those things. He liked archery, running and fencing. He enjoyed having completed work outs in the weight room. Climbing was a like a puzzle he normally didn’t care to bother with. 

But one glance over at Rey told him she raced to the top like a mountain goat. 

“Come on,” Rey whined. 

“Okay, okay,” Finn grumbled. He climbed up the rest of the way with no issue. Rey stood waiting for him, grinning at him. 

“Can we try a harder wall now?” she called down to the spotter. 

“You both appear to be proficient,” the spotter said. 

“Duh, we do this at least once a week at school,” Finn muttered under his breath. He saw Rey flash him a grin as she began her descent. Finn followed her down, feeling like his heart was just a touch lighter.

The instructor got them set up on an intermediary wall, which was a little higher than what they were used to for school. Rey went right up like it was nothing. Finn took longer, but then he wasn’t like a climbing genius. He was always solid and for climbing tests he got great scores because he practically had the wall memorized at this point. He knew his routes. In this case he had to plan as he went. And yes, that did make it a little more fun. 

Also, Rey smiling at him when he came up to join her while she waited for him; that made his awesome. 

“You are really good at this,” she said. 

“Not as good as you,” he said. 

“I’ve always loved climbing,” she said. “I would climb all over stuff when I was little. I used to climb the trees on the White House property all the time, especially once I got a little older. I have done climbing when we do summer stuff in Connecticut as well.” 

“Why didn’t you try climbing here before?” Finn asked. 

“Well, there was the stuff at school and that was okay. And I’ve been busy with other things. But I think if I can come here sometimes, it would be good,” she said. She nodded her head like it was decided for her. “Thank you for coming with me.” 

“No problem,” Finn said. “Like you said. I’m good at. Want to go back down now?” he asked. 

“Yeah, I think someone else wants a chance. Maybe they’ll let us try one more wall,” she said.

“We can try a more advanced wall next time,” Finn said, beginning his descent. 

“So, you’ll come next time?” Rey called back as she also began her descent. 

“Of course,” he called back. 

He made it the rest of the way down to the ground. He felt better once his feet were firmly planted on the mats. The spotter helped to get him out of the gear. 

“So, you’re done for the day?” Rey asked. She sounded a little disappointed. 

“Yeah,” Finn said, taking off his helmet. “You said you wanted to go again. I think it’ll be easier for you to get a turn when they don’t have to send two of us up at once. And I want to see you climb from down here.” 

“Oh,” she said. “Well, that’s at least logical.” 

Finn got a drink of water and stood out of the way and waited for Rey to be able to get back to the wall. As he suspected, it was even more impressive watching her climb when he was on the ground. 

“Your friend is pretty good,” one of the instructors said. “You’re pretty good too.” 

“Not like Rey,” Finn said. 

“They have competitions here occasionally,” the instructor said. “You two should think about entering.” 

Finn nearly groaned. He could see himself being her climbing buddy forever at this rate. Although that wasn’t exactly a bad thing. Climbing competitions would probably look good on his college applications, anyway. 

Nines had once sneeringly told Finn once that he had college admissions and scholarships sewn up with his grades and sob story background. Finn had to consciously remind himself not to grit his teeth when he thought about that. He wanted to get into school on his own merits. And the way Nines said it made it sound like Finn didn’t really deserve it, like Finn wasn’t top of their year and didn’t spend a lot of time working on all of his extracurricular. Worse, Nines made it sound like Finn being punted around to eight different foster homes had been advantageous to Finn. 

“Do you have a flyer?” Finn asked the instructor suddenly to get his mind off that line of thought. It never led anywhere good. 

“Yeah, give me a second,” the instructor said, slipping away to the desk to get a flyer. 

Finn focused Rey finishing her climb. She hit the top and lounged there for only a moment before she began to descend back to the ground. It was kind of nice to know that she’d been waiting for him before. 

“Here you go,” the instructor said. “I got you two.” 

“Thank you,” Finn said, accepting the flyers. 

Rey came back to earth and let the spotter help her out of her gear. Finn waved to her and pointed toward the gym. She nodded and went back to what she was doing. Finn carried the fliers back and put them in his locker. He grabbed his change of clothes and went to take a quick shower. 

He let his mind drift, wondering how regular this would be and maybe if Rey would invite him out to other things. It occurred to him suddenly as he was about to get out of the shower that she had invited him over to her house afterwards. 

Did that mean she was going to introduce him to her parents? Was he going to meet her parents? Would he be asked to stay for dinner? Were his clothes even okay to meet the previous President of the United States in? 

“It’ll be okay,” he said to himself as he changed. He had good jeans and a black tee shirt, and well, it was an impromptu invitation. And they’d been climbing. He’d probably be home after they did home work for a while. It wasn’t too, too late. 

He finished dressing and grabbed his bag and the fliers before going out to the lobby to wait for Rey. It took her longer, but she arrived out within about ten minutes or so. Her hair was damp and up in her little knots. 

“Well, this was fun,” she said cheerfully. 

“Yeah, one of the guys on the floor gave me this,” he said, handing her one of the fliers. “He said they had competitions and maybe we’d be interested.” 

“Really? Wizard!” She said, nearly shoving her nose into the paper as she examined it. “This is awesome. There’s one at the end of the month and they have a high school age bracket. We should do this,” she gushed. 

“It could be fun,” Finn hedged. With her, probably it would be. 

“Definitely,” she said. “Especially if you come with me! This will be great!” 

“Yeah,” Finn said. 

“Miss Rey,” one of the Secret Service agents said. “It’s time to return home.” 

“Yeah,” Rey said. “Come on, Finn. It’s about dinner time anyway. Are you hungry?” 

“I could eat,” Finn said. He smiled just a little. Mentally he chanted to himself that it would be just fine. 

“Great,” she said. She took his hand and tugged him out to the car. 

Finn felt his heart soar and his stomach flip over. It would be okay. It would be okay.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for being patient. This fic won't be as long as High School Never Ends. 
> 
> I also want to note that while now Presidents who end their terms are basically retired for the rest of their lives, that in the past this wasn't always true. I seem to remember one President went back to the senate after his term. Leia does what she wants, but this isn't without precedent.

**Author's Note:**

> The title of this fic is based on Jess Glynne's "Hold My Hand", which I think is super fitting for this pairing. 
> 
> This fic is very different in tone from High School Never Ends. This is more of a sweet romance angst trap vs the Kylux sarcastic little shit angst trap. 
> 
> Finn's family is based on Samuel L Jackson's headcanon, apparently. 
> 
> If you have any questions or suggestions or comments please feel free to leave a comment. 
> 
> Thanks for reading! :D


End file.
